For this blog post, we have opened the doors to guest blogger Angelo Kornecki of Astute wealth Management.

In just over 7 months, all businesses employing 100 people or more will be required by law to have enrolled all of their qualifying employees into a pension scheme. However with this deadline now approaching rapidly for small to medium sized businesses, some of the companies providing pensions are already approaching capacity and simply don’t have the resources to deal with the expected rush of applications.

Larger employers should already have schemes in place; however The Pensions Regulator revealed in their last report that they were investigating 89 businesses regarding suspected non-compliance. These companies will have large payroll and HR departments and full access to financial and legal advice, so if the largest of employers are getting it wrong, how will the thousands upon thousands of smaller employers cope next year when access to good quality advice may become difficult to come by simply as a result of the increase in demand?

This could prove very costly, as penalties for non-compliance for larger businesses are £10,000 a day, and even for businesses within the SME sector employing 50-249 people are set at £2,500 a day.

Employers need to be aware that The Pensions Regulator is actively policing auto enrolment and will launch investigations into companies whom they believe are not complying with the new legislation. If there’s anything that this news tells us, it is that employers must start to prepare early for auto enrolment.

To find out more about auto-enrolment and how it will affect you, Farleys’ employment team have teamed up with Astute Wealth Management to provide a free of charge seminar for business owners and professionals in Lancashire. The seminar will provide all the information you need to ensure you comply with pensions legislation, and will also include an essential employment law update – running through the recent changes in employment law, and how they will affect businesses.

For more information on the event and to book your free place, click here.